Telekom supports Corona research with a cloud solution
14.07.2021 12:56
Many studies have shown that up to 20 percent of all COVID-19 patients have long-term consequences after a corona infection. More and more doctors are now researching the consequences of the disease. The “National Research Network of University Medicine on Covid-19” (NUM) has commissioned the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) to evaluate medical image data in three corona studies. The DZHK uses TrialComplete for studies with 11,000 test subjects nationwide. The clinical data management system developed by Telekom enables central access to medical study data.
“With TrialComplete, researchers can work in a spatially distributed research network without media disruption. You no longer have to transport data on storage media,” says Michael Waldbrenner, Managing Director Telekom Healthcare Solutions. “In addition, the (image) data is structured according to the study right from the start. They are much easier to find. And users can access study results even more easily.”
Julia Hoffmann, head of the research platform at the DZHK, adds: “Even before the pandemic, we were conducting studies from all over Germany with our clinical research platform. The platform is now also being used for COVID-19 research. In addition to medical image data, biosamples and clinical data from COVID-19 patients come together centrally here. The data can be used for questions that go far beyond the aim of individual studies.” The DZHK also supports this National Pandemic Cohorts Network (NAPKON). The network enables fundamental analyzes for understanding and combating pandemics.
TrialComplete stores medical study data in the Telekom Healthcare Cloud. The cloud meets the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Researchers can access the data regardless of location. These are stored in a format that most clinical software systems can read (DICOM).
“Currently, most research hospitals store medical data in isolation in their IT systems. This makes the exchange – for example on data storage media – extremely complex. With TrialComplete the process is significantly simplified,” says Michael Waldbrenner. “The system links data from studies together. In addition, the pseudonymized image data can be combined with corresponding medical data from test subjects in accordance with data protection regulations.”
TrialComplete is increasingly establishing itself as a central cloud solution for research data. The Hannover Medical School (MHH) is leading a Europe-wide study with eight children's heart centers and is using the platform. Just like that German Heart Center Berlin (DHZB) as part of the Europe-wide study Cardioproof. Researchers in several countries process the test subjects’ image data without media disruption.
“We recently, as part of OCRE – Open Clouds for Research Environments – a framework agreement together with the European Science Network GÉANT and 29 national science networks, which also includes the German research network,” explains Michael Waldbrenner. “This stipulates that in the future we will provide cloud services such as TrialComplete to around 7,000 scientific institutions in Europe based on the Open Telekom Cloud The Telekom system is currently in use in around a hundred facilities across Europe.